Cross country skier breaks ski, still finishes race after opposing coach runs onto course to help him

In the finals of the men’s cross country skiing sprint, Russia’s Anton Gafarov crashed but still managed to finish the race thanks to Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth, who ran onto the course to help him.

Garafov finished nearly three minutes behind the leaders, but the Russian crowd gave him a standing ovation as he crossed the finish line.

Here’s how it went down.

Gafarov crashed hard halfway through the race:

His left ski was badly damaged:

He couldn’t take his weight off his broken ski, so he futilely tried to finish the race using only his poles

A few seconds later, he fell again:

This time he broke his ski in half:

It looked like he’d have to quit the race:

But then Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth ran out onto the course with a replacement ski:

He put it on for him:

Gafarov made it to the stretch run, and applauded the crowd:

The crowd went nuts as he crossed the finish line:

Wadsworth explained why he ran onto the course in an interview with the Toronto Star: “It was like watching an animal stuck in a trap. You can’t just sit there and do nothing about it. … I wanted him to have dignity as he crossed the finish line.”